Pup has had Lepto 2 at 8 weeks, vet gave Lepto 4 at 12 weeks and claims to need a further 4 weeks for it to take effect.
Surely one week from Lepto 4 should be enough as the cover will be similar to that provided if it had been the Lepto 2 for the second dose? It seems the second vet is totally disregarding the Lepto 2.
Really don’t want to delay full socialization but equally don’t want to be under or over vaccinated-help!

There appears to be many dogs/puppies that have had problems with Lepto 4 - I would not allow the vet to give another dose.
I also recommend that my new puppy parents don't allow the vet to give either element of Lepto
You will get lots of replies to your post and I look forward to them too.
Get your pup out now and enjoy him/her

>It seems the second vet is totally disregarding the Lepto 2.

You're absolutely right. The puppy should have had a second dose of L2 between 2 and 4 weeks after the first (at between 10 and 12 weeks of age) and would then have full immunity 2 weeks after that. L4 includes cover for the strains covered by L2 (plus 2 others which aren't yet found in the UK) and therefore another dose of L4 would be superfluous unless you plan to take your dog abroad on holiday with you at any time. If not, then I wouldn't bother getting a third injection.

If you've been charged for both doses I would be asking for a refund for the unnecessary second L4.

Thanks for replies.
I am awaiting a call back from the vet today, wish I’d had more information to arm myself with yesterday but that’s my fault for going along with the vets advice.
I’m just wanting to check if it’s ok to treat yesterday’s dose as if it was L2 and take him out fully next week without risk.
I know the vet will be strongly advising to wait and have a third shot.
There is a lot of conflicting information, even a puppy class which can be attended after only the first injection -seems one extreme to another!

If you are in the UK, surely two sets of shots, 2 weeks apart, is more usual.   And I had my vet use L2, NOT 4.  And then I left another week before taking my puppies out on any ground other than at home. 

Why the need for a third L shot - and why switch from L2 to L4?

Mine were first vaccinated at 10 weeks, and then again at 12 weeks.  As time has gone by since we left N.America, I completely forget what was done out there!!

The question has to be to the vets why on earth did they mix the L2 and L4. They should be doing one or the other.
L4 is a pointless vaccine and many dogs have had serious adverse reactions so I wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

The first vet was the breeders choice, the second my vet which I’ve used for years.
They recommended L4 and said it may have been different to the previous, my fault for not knowing I guess and when I queried if it was a different first jab I was told they could just give another later-no mention of the differences or the extra 4 week wait.
I’ll know for next time but not much use now!

The vets have to follow the manufacturer's guidelines, so if they don't use the L2, then they have to start a new course with the L4 which does involve a 4 week wait.

But, I had my puppy out after 3 weeks, as soon as he'd had the second core vaccine, because I wasn't about to wait that long to start socialising him and the lepto risk here is low.  I also don't walk my dogs near standing water.

The better scenario for you would either have been that the breeder didn't give the first vaccination so this couldn't happen (this is a really, really common problem, and breeders doing that isn't best practice any more for that reason), or you'd have found another vet who uses L2 just for the vaccination course.  Too late now of course, so stick with your vet and finish the course that puppy is now on.

I don't vaccinate my dogs or puppies for Lepto at all, 2 or 4, and really your main concern with a puppy is going to be parvo - which is covered by both rounds of shots.

I see the lepto situation all the time with pups at my classes. Breeders' vets give them one of those and then vets locally use another (mostly L4) so insist on re-starting the vaccinations so they can have both rounds of L4.

If you're purchasing a puppy which has already had one round of shots you now need to find out not only what brand that was, but also whether L2 or L4 - so you can match it with the second round at a vet locally. It's insane. (That's if you care about lepto.)

Personally, I wouldn't want to purchase a pup which has already had any Lepto shots at all. And if I did and the pup had had one, I wouldn't be giving either 2 or 4, I'd just do another DHP at 18wks.

I never give any of my dogs Lepto 2 or 4.it is this vaccine that causes most of the reactions in dogs, my dogs have a titre test for the other diseases when they are 10/11 weeks of age & if the results indicate that vaccination is required, then they are vaccinated in line with the advice of the immunologist, not a GP vet who will have little indepth knowledge of immunology. Not had a dog contract Lepto or any of the other diseases in 50 years since I had the first titre test done in 1971, never had a dog need a"booster"either

> The better scenario for you would either have been that the breeder didn't give the first vaccination so this couldn't happen

We didn't give our puppies any vax before they went off to their new homes, because all too often a new vet will 'start again'.   They normally went off at 10 weeks, with instructions for the new owners to have them seen by their own vet within 48 hours, at which point the first vaccination was given.  If they went earlier, to people we know but not before 8 weeks,  it was up to them how soon the first jabs were given.

A new one on me was the puppy we met, being carried, whose owner had been told he could walk on the pavement but not on grass while he waited for the jabs to kick in. I’ve never heard that advice before.

RR -  either the owner misheard/misunderstood what was being said, or they need to change vets!!

My dog had Lepto 2 for both puppy vax. Then, at the first annual booster, she had Lepto 4 and collapsed after.
I haven’t had any vaccinations done since.

Thankfully my vet has always and continues to use L2 which has given no issues with my dogs over the years

Can someone tell me if I am misunderstanding.  If as this dog he had l2 and now one l4 surely he is covered for the l2 strains so stop now
Or have I got something wrong.
Personnaly I don't use either and would only use l2 if I felt the risk made it necessary

FF, I was wondering that too.

I think further back 1234 said something to that effect further back and certainly makes sense to me . Just wanted to make sure I was in the right page.

I think there's a difference between whether (scientifically and biologically) the L4 will boost the 2 strains covered by the L2 - versus whether the vaccines are licensed to be used like that and so whether vets will want to use them in that way.

Same thing goes with vaccines being different brands - I've had vets tell me that they will probably be fine (why would they not be, especially with the DHP which only needs one dose at the right time) but yet they just won't do it, because the tests which the manufacturers carried out only used the same brand. So since they haven't been tested with different brands, they won't advise people to use them in that way (different brands).

I don't think Nobivac have tested if L4 adequately boosts the same two strains in L2 or what happens if you mix them. I also know that the L2 used to be able to be given 2 weeks apart (ie 8wks and 10wks) and since vets started using L4, it has to be 4wks apart (8wks and 12wks) - so that seems a difference to me and would indicate they can't be combined... not if you want to be a vet giving people advice based on the research carried out by the vaccine companies and thereby taking no responsibility for anything yourself...

Gosh how confusing . I know they don't like mixing vaccines from different manufactures.  as with covid vaccinations until research was done it was a no . I guess with this there is no money or reason for companies to research the efficacy or side effects of mixing .and who would take responsibility when it goes wrong.
If I were the op and it were my dog  I would stop now but it is an individual choice of course

Having queried this with vets, it's perfectly fine to change from L4 to L2 without a restart, and vets who still routinely use L2 will often advise that this is done if the animal is staying in the UK. Equally if (as in the OP's case) the pup had received a single injection of L2 it doesn't matter if it has a second L2 or a single L4 between 2 & 4 weeks after the first to be as fully protected as having the two injections of L2. However if the animal will be taken overseas (on holiday, for instance) then a second L4, 4 weeks after the first L4, would be advised.

But (to my knowledge) none of that is written on any data sheets for the vaccines, so it's going to be down to the individual vet to break away- and sadly some won't want to do that.

to be as fully protected

Of course as I'm sure we are all aware, vaccines do NOT protect from contracting a condition, theoretically, they reduce the affects of the condition. This goes for all vaccinations animal or human, they rely on the immune scheme of the recipient.

>Of course as I'm sure we are all aware, vaccines do NOT protect from contracting a condition, theoretically, they reduce the affects of the condition. This goes for all vaccinations animal or human, they rely on the immune scheme of the recipient.

The correct quote would be "to be as fully protected as having the two injections of L2"

Vaccines prevent - or at least minimise - the ill-effects of contracting a disease.

>But (to my knowledge) none of that is written on any data sheets for the vaccines

Using Nobivac as an example (there are other brands as well). L2 protects against Leptospira interrogans serogroup Canicola and Leptospira interrogans serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae (with duration of immunity established as at least 1 year). L4 protects against both of those but also L. interrogans serogroup Australis serovar Bratislava and L. kirschneri serogroup Grippotyphosa serovar Bananal/Lianguang as well. So the datasheet is clear that the OP's pup has received 2 vaccinations against the same serovars as in L2.

Some very interesting information about lepto infection